Royal Air Force chief to fly Sukhoi

Much like the Americans, the British too are keen to evaluate the most potent fighter in the IAF fleet, the Sukhoi jets.

| TNN | Oct 8, 2006, 12.01 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Much like the Americans, the British too are keen to evaluate the most potent fighter in the IAF fleet, the Sukhoi-30MKI "air-dominance" jets.

And what better way to do this than to take a high-voltage spin in the twin-seater Sukhoi-30MKI itself while it tears through the skies. Visiting Royal Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Glenn Torpy, no mean pilot himself with some 4,300 hours of fast-jet flying, is ready for the challenge.

"It will be a great opportunity since the Sukhoi-30MKI is one of the most modern fighters in the world,"said Torpy, talking exclusively to TOI on Saturday.

The RAF chief will take to the skies on Wednesday in Pune, even as his young pilots in their Tornado F-3 fighter jets take on IAF pilots flying Sukhoi-30MKIs, MiG-21 'Biso-ns' and MiG-27s in the ongoing joint combat exercise 'Indra Dhanush' at Gwalior and Agra.

The Indian government, incidentally, has asked Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to speed up its indigenous production of 140 Sukhoi-30MKIs to deal with IAF's depleting combat fleet, which currently has little more than three Sukhoi-30MKI squadrons.

American pilots, flying their F-15Cs and F-16 'fighting falcons', found the Sukhoi-30MKIs "simply awesome" while being more or less outgunned during recent Indo-US wargames.

The tussle, of course, is now between IAF and its progenitor RAF in the first such exercise being held between them for four decades. "The two can learn from each other, build relations and exchange ideas.

IAF can learn from our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Torpy, who served in key positions during the 'Desert Fox', 'Allied Force' and 'Iraqi Freedom' operations.

"Our pilots, in turn, are exercising against a good range of Soviet fighters, which they have not done earlier. It's very important for our youngsters to experience a different culture... India is a major player internationally," he added.

Waiting to induct the Israeli Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) next year, IAF is also taking lessons from the British E3-D AWACS aircraft during Indra Dhanush.

Then, of course, there is the key objective to build "interoperability" between the two forces, which will prove handy if they have to undertake joint operations in future, said ACM Torpy.

Interestingly, after flying the Sukhoi-30MKI, the RAF chief will also fly the Eurofighter Typhoon once he reaches UK. Being inducted into RAF now, it's one of the contenders to bag the gigantic $ 6.5 billion Indian contract for 126 multi-role fighters.

"Typhoon is a superb and easy-to-fly fighter and we have 33 of them in service at the moment. We will be delighted if IAF decides on Typhoon. Saudi Arabia, for instance, is looking to acquire 72 Typhoons,"said ACM Torpy.

The Typhoon will have to contend with the Russian MiG-35, French Rafale, Swedish JAS-39 Gripen and the American F/A-18 "Super Hornets"and F-16 "Falcons"in the race for the Indian deal.

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